


save me

by Miraal



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Suicidal!Niall, cabdriver!zayn, intentional lack of capitalization, ziall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 13:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3531899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miraal/pseuds/Miraal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>zayn picks up a suicidal boy.</p><p>a ziall oneshot</p>
            </blockquote>





	save me

**Author's Note:**

> sooo i whipped up a quick oneshot after watching [this youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6bS8sOZTqw) (but don't watch it before you read or you'll spoil the ending!)
> 
> it's nice to write something else than privilege for once.
> 
>  
> 
> enjoy :) x

it started as a normal day on the job for Zayn. except it was quite shittier than normal. it was around 4pm and so far, he earned about 10 bucks all day. it happened. there were slow days but it didn’t leave Zayn any less frustrated. he decided to take a last round around the city before he’d get something to eat.

he was just about to finish the round when he saw a young guy waving him over. Zayn pulled up by the curb though was a little suspicious; the kids in this guy’s age range tended to be quite assholy and sometimes tried to run off without paying. and Zayn wasn’t up for a chase today. 

the boy looked to be around college age with wispy blond hair and blue eyes. Zayn looked at him through the mirror and was a bit taken aback by how utterly sad the boy looked; his eyes dull and his face drawn. he didn’t meet Zayn’s eyes as he gave him the address, just stared solemnly out of the window.

“hello, how are you?” Zayn asked as he usually did his customers but this time it was with the flat, obligatory tone but he wanted to know genuinely because this kid looked like he’d seen better days.

“i’m having a bad day,” the blonde muttered with sadness, his whole body slumped in the seat, eyes staring outside.

“i can tell,” Zayn said, feeling a bit uneasy at how the blonde seemed to contaminate the small space with his gloomy energy. “we all have one of those bad days, don’t we?”

“yeah…” the blonde paused to breathe out a deep sigh. “...i failed half my courses, so i’ll probably have to retake the whole semester. and i got fired from work so i don’t know how i’ll even pay my bills. if that wasn’t enough, my girlfriend told me she wanted to take a break and ‘see other people’.” the boy let out a small, humorless laugh.

Zayn winced. it wasn’t uncommon that people vented to him like he was their therapist without pay. it happened from time to time, but this kid got to be the one who had it worst. Zayn felt incredibly bad for him. he was intimate with the struggle of paying bills and he could imagine how much more stressed he’d be if he’d had to worry about his studies on top of that.

“i’m sure it’ll get better,” he offered lamely in an effort to cheer the kid up, though the kid looked beyond cheering up. Zayn glanced at him in the mirror and saw a quick smile flash on his lips that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“no, i don’t think anything will get better,” the blonde said in his voice of doom, “things haven’t been getting better for a long while now...i give up.”

Zayn was beginning to feel worried. “don’t say that,” he said. “sometimes things are bad, sometimes they’re good. life is a rollercoaster.”

“well my rollercoaster has been plummeting down without any ups for some time now,” the boy said and looked miserably. “i guess i’m just not cut out for it.”

“cut out for what?” 

“life,” the guy said darkly. “some people just aren’t able to deal with it, y’know? like me. i can’t deal with it anymore.”

this kid was sounding increasingly suicidal and Zayn was getting increasingly worried. Zayn was nearly certain that this guy would go home and slit his wrists or swallow a bottle of pills. he glanced at him through the mirror.

“don’t say that,” Zayn said firmly, “it’ll get better. i know it doesn’t seem like it, but it will. do you have parents? they could maybe help you out.”

the boy scoffed. “as if,” he said. “they already think i’m a big disappointment because i chose to study english instead of engineering. things haven’t been good with them for a while. they’d never help me.”

just listening to this kid was making Zayn depressed. he chewed on his bottom lip, racking his brains for ways to avoid seeing this kid on the news after he offed himself.

“can you stop right here?”

they were driving over the bridge and Zayn was alarmed. “what? this is the bridge?”

“yes, i want you to stop,” the kid said louder, more firmly. “please, stop right here!”

“but--”

“i want you to stop!”

Zayn slowly pulled up. he turned in his seat and stared at the boy. “what are you going to do here? don’t you want me to take you home?” he asked anxiously but the boy just ignored him. he pulled out his wallet and gave Zayn a fifty dollar bill. 

“what is this? you only have to pay me 20, this is too much!”

“just a thank you for listening to me. thank you so much,” the boy with the pretty smile and empty eyes climbed off Zayn’s cab and as he approached the bride, Zayn knew he couldn’t watch him do that.

he flew out of the car. “wait! wait!”

the boy paid him no mind and began climbing up on the bridge. but Zayn got to him before he could get very far. “no! Stop! You can’t do that!” Zayn exclaimed as he grabbed his arm tightly.

“this is not your job!” the boy cried as he tried to tug his arm out of Zayn’s grip. “this has nothing to do with you! let me go! I can’t do this anymore!”

“no! you can’t do this to yourself!” The boy was smaller than Zayn so Zayn easily pulled him down. “i know things are hard but this is not the answer!”

“but life is hard!” the boy crumpled on the pavement and Zayn went down with him, still having a steady grip on him in fear that he might leap over the bridge and traumatize Zayn. “i can’t deal with it anymore!”

“No, you--”

“why?” the boy snapped, staring at Zayn. “why!?”

“because you’re so fucking young!” Zayn said, distressed. “just..how old are you?”

“i’m 18,” the boy replied dully. “and my life has already gone to shit.”

“you’re young!” Zayn repeated again. “you’re young and you’re beautiful and you have a whole life ahead of you! in a few years, you will realize that what i was saying was right! you can throw it all away just like this!”

 

“i have a rough life! do you know what that even is like?”

“yes,” Zayn said. “yes. i dropped out of college when i was your age and now i’m 25 and driving that fucking car,” he gestured to the cab, “every fucking day and some days i make 10 dollars! everyone on this planet knows what a rough life is like! And you know what? they don’t just give up because it doesn’t solve _anything!_ , do you hear me? it doesn’t solve _shit_!”

in his passionate rant, Zayn had grabbed the boy by his shoulders to look at his face and the boy looked a bit startled by Zayn’s outburst, blue eyes wide and round. 

Zayn had not planned to say all that and he panted lightly as he stared at the boy’s beautiful face.

“what’s your name?” he asked.

“Niall,” the boy replied quietly.

“niall,” Zayn repeated. “niall, there are people who’re going to miss you, ok? your friends and your family. you might have disagreements with your parents but i’m sure they love you. what is your mother going to say if you jump off that bridge? she’s going to cry, that’s what’s going to happen. you don’t want to bring such tragedy and grief upon the people you love, do you?”

niall shook his head, staring back at Zayn with something akin to awe.

Zayn felt like he was getting through to him and he knew the people in the car zooming by was giving them strange looks, but he didn’t care. he wanted to save this young soul from himself.

“my parents came all the way from pakistan to here to give me and my siblings a better life. we have to deal with racism and discrimnation every day, but we still pull through. if i can do it, so can you.”

he looked at niall’s face, his freckled cheeks and little nose and wide blue eyes and smiled.

“you’re going to be okay, niall,” he said confidently.

to his surprise, niall’s eyes turned glassy with tears and he looked beyond touched. he threw his arms around Zayn’s neck and hugged him, pressing close. Zayn hugged him back without hesitation, holding his body tight to his.

“thank you,” niall sniffled wetly, “the world needs more people like you. thank you so much.”

niall pulled back and when he did, he smiled brightly, eyes twinkling under the sun and goddamn was he beautiful. Zayn was a little awe-struck.

“what’s your name?” niall asked with a little coy smile.

“Zayn.”

“can i tell you something, Zayn?” niall grinned and seemed to have gotten out of his dark, mental hole pretty fast.

Zayn nodded. “of course.”

niall took a deep breath and looked a bit nervous. “there’s cameras all over,” he said and gestured around. “i was filming a video.”

Zayn stared at him dumbly for one long moment. “what?” he blinked and looked around, but couldn’t see anything.

“i wasn’t really going to jump but if anyone was, they wouldn’t do it with you by their side,” niall said and put a hand on Zayn’s shoulder. “this was a social experiment.”

Zayn was dumb-struck and couldn’t even formulate a reply. niall looked sheepish. “you’re a great guy. i meant what i said, the world need more people like you, thank you so much. you saved my life.” niall leaned in and hugged Zayn again.

he pulled back and looked at Zayn worriedly, chewing at his lip. “are you mad?”

“i don’t know,” Zayn said, staring at him. “um...i guess not?”

niall beamed at him. “cool! i’m sorry, but you were really fucking awesome!” he looked around, “guys! you can come out now.”

just then a couple of guys came towards them from godknowshwere; they were both around niall’s age and were carrying cameras with huge grins on their lips. Zayn slowly rose to his feet alongside niall, still unsure of how he felt about being thrown through such a rollercoaster. 

“hi! i’m harry!” one of the guys grinned, bouncing forward and offering his hand to Zayn. he shook it enthusiastically when Zayn took it. “that was freaking amazing! i’ve got huge respect for you.”

Zayn smiled wanly. “thanks.”

the other guy introduced himself as liam and politely shook his hand as well. 

“is it alright if we use the footage?” niall asked carefully when the other two stepped back.

“i wouldn’t want all that to be for nothing,” Zayn said and rolled his eyes. “you really got me fooled. you’re a great actor.”

niall grinned. “thanks. i plan to be an actor one day.”

“well, you’ve got a grammy from me,” Zayn said with a sincere smile.

niall smiled back and then they stood there awkwardly for a few moments, before one of his friends called on him.

“Um, I have to go,” niall said, albeit he sounded a bit reluctant. he wringed his hands for a bit and looked mightly nervous. “thank you so much for today. that meant a lot.”

“no problem,” Zayn replied easily. 

niall didn’t move and just stared at his shoes. Zayn noticed the pink that seemed to be spreading from his neck to his face and he was amused. niall looked back at him, pink-cheeked and bright-eyed.

“um, maybe i’ll see you around?” niall smiled hopefully at him and he was endearing to Zayn; so goddamn adorable.

“sure,” Zayn said and smoothly added, “you can have my number and call me up if you ever plan to fake-suicide again. i’ll come rescue you in a heartbeat.”

niall laughed loudly and blushed a bit harder. he tried not to seem eager as he fished out his phone and handed it to Zayn, but Zayn could totally see through him.

Zayn quickly punched his number into niall’s phone and gave it back. “i’ll see you around, niall.”

niall bit down his lip to stop a grin. “yeah,” he said with still rosy cheeks. he began walking backwards. “see you around...Zayn.” then he turned on his heels and jogged to catch up to his friends.

Zayn smiled after him. he guessed today wasn’t the usual crappy day as he’d thought.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on my [tumblr](http://themiraal.tumblr.com/) and i'm thinking about taking mini-fic requests/drabbles so drop by! :)


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